JEDPL Reviews: Phineas
What's up, all my party people?! Your Chaotic Lord, Ouroburos, has returned to doing some of the most promised reviews as possible! As for predictions, those will still have to wait (doing the ThunderCats Japanese dub prediction article sort of exhausted me, after all). Before we get on with this review, I have some good news and bad news: the good news is that I'm now able to update the list of projects on the main page quicker since I've watched a little more anime and other sorts of shows, lately. The bad news (which doesn't have to do with this wiki) is that I left Game Ideas Wiki around last month. If you would like to know why, just go over to my last blog post on that site if you can find it. I really hope you all don't burst into tears after I said that, by the way... BWWAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! {clears throat} Okay, I'm wasting my AAAAAAAND your precious time! Regardless, let's get into....... {drumroll} Phineas & Ferb! You see I decided to make this one like a sort of "surprise review". Why? I wanted to review something that a large amount of people have watched at least many times more than you could count. But really now, what other show would you want me to tackle? Fish Hooks?!?! AH-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! Like that'll never happen... So Phineas & Ferb was created by Dan Povenmire & Jeff "Swampy" Mar--- Wait, who the hell thought up that nickname?? S-sorry, I was getting off track, but you know what I was talking about. Anyhoo, Dan and Jeff are probably best known for working on Rocko's Modern Life and also voicing two B-plot characters of this show: one Major Monagram and another Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz. Its premise pretty much comes off incredibly simple and somewhat bland: Phineas Flynn and his English stepbrother, Ferb Fletcher, are two boys on summer vacation. All they really do is think of various activities (in this case, "grand project") and whatnot just so they don't have to be full of boredom... I...... guess. But it seems that they also have a controlling teenage sister, Candace, who always tries to reveal their shenanigans to both mother Linda Flynn-Fletcher and father Lawrence Fletcher (to a lesser extent), with almost every episode having this bimbo in failure because something always gets rid of the inventions. While it's pretty clear that the viewers know what's going on, the in-show characters are rather oblivious to this particular action. Even in one episode, though, Phineas said that he and Ferb have no idea where their inventions go, but the latter once mentioned that it serves as "cleaning up a mess" or some crap like that. Along with Phineas and Ferb is their pet platypus known as Perry. While in their sight, Perry just acts like a typical animal until he can really take action as "Agent P", a secret agent working for the OWCA ("Organization Without a Cool Acronym") in order to always thwart the nefarous Dr. Doofenshmirtz's plans. But as it may seem, Doof is more of a pussy antagonist if anything because he has a tendency in almost every episode to assert his evilness. I know this is a comedy-musical series and all, but did you honestly think things through before being under the conception of this character? {sighs} Yeah we may not be expecting another Dr. Wily or Neo Cortex here, but I think the only time Doofenshmirtz did things actually relatable to a villain was in the TV movie, "Phineas & Ferb: Across the 2nd Dimension", but even then, that could still be a debatable case. Though I don't exactly enjoy this show as a whole and I think it's pretty mindless every once in a while, the B-Plot (involving Perry the Platypus stopping Doofenshmirtz) is something I can usually commend or laugh at in a positive way. You see having Phineas and Ferb and all of their friends in the A-Plot is more comfortable than making it so that it's not jumbled up with the B-Plot. Maybe I'm saying that because I don't care much for the main plot and show more interest for the subplot if anything. Another thing that comes into mind are the recurring gags. Being that they've worked on Family Guy and Rocko's Modern Life in the past, both Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" (still can't get over that) Marsh wanted to combine a few elements from those shows into this one... albeit in a less raunchier form. For instance, whenever Perry is about to do his own thing, one character will ask, "Hey, where's Perry?". Another one, for example, is Isabella Garcia-Shapiro (leader of the Fireside Girls troop 46231) and her own catchphrase, "Whatcha doin'?", as if it were being inflected. On rare occasions, Baljeet and Buford have also said this (the latter got elbowed by Isabella in the episode, "Out of Toon"). Even Norm the Robot said it in "Hail Doofania!". PHEW!! Phineas & Ferb as a whole has been critically popular with not only children, but also adults. I swear to God that there's so much merchandise (including a video game) that I just might have a heart attack! And not the "good" kind, either... Being part-musical, this show also incorporates a lot of musical numbers (with the songs being halfway genre-diverse from time to time). And I have to admit: these are almost as gut-wrenching and facepalmy as High School Musical. I guess Doof's okay with this one, but everybody else is either average, barely decent, or just trauma-inducing with this thing. Now I really wonder who decided to make Total Drama: World Tour a musical after all this time... {dramatic stare} Final verdict What is there to say about Phineas & Ferb, overall? While I wouldn't call it a bad show, it's just something I don't care too much for... and pretty much it's also way too overrated! The subplots are amusing enough, characterization and voice acting is not too shabby (especially Vincent Martella. Chris Rock has taught you well, young Padawan), and even a few of the running gags make me chuckle. It's the very little things I pointed out in this review (like the musical numbers) that could be improved upon airing future episodes. I'm giving Phineas & Ferb a 6.0/10. Once more, it's not a bad show. All of a sudden, it's just something I wouldn't recommend unless you decide on your own. This is Ouroburos.TheNewSaurian signing out, so have a wonderful day! Pros *The subplots involving Perry and Doofenshmirtz are mesmerizing. *Some funny gags here and there. *Characterization is mostly going to be either average or brilliant, here. *Damn good voice acting (not as great as anything like Batman: The Animated Series or Regular Show, however) Cons *The musical numbers need to be improved or abandoned, whatever way works more. *Usually the main plot is a hit-and-miss. *Does not deserve as much credit as everybody gives it. *A stupid villain is.... well, he's kinda stupid, anyway. Category:Review